Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Most Effective Opioid Addiction Treatment Banned From Majority Of Jails

Much of the criminal justice system still takes a punitive approach to addiction. Many who work in corrections believe, incorrectly, that treatments like methadone, itself an opioid, allow inmates to get high and simply replace one addiction with another. In other news on the crisis: driving under the influence; answers about the epidemic; how health law repeal would hurt those fighting addiction; and more.

The New York Times:
Opioid Users Are Filling Jails. Why Don’t Jails Treat Them?
When Dave Mason left jail in October 2015 after his 14th criminal conviction, the odds were good that he would end up dead. A man with a longtime heroin addiction, Mr. Mason was entering one of the deadliest windows for jailed users returning to the streets: the first two weeks after release, when they often make the mistake of returning to a dose their body can no longer handle. (Williams, 8/4)

USA Today:
Opioid Crisis: Proportion Of Drivers Killed While Under Influence Spikes
In one of the latest examples of the growing opioid epidemic, researchers found a seven-fold increase in the proportion of drivers killed while under the influence of prescription opioids since 1995. Researchers at Columbia University examined drug testing results for 36,729 drivers in California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and West Virginia who died within an hour of being in a car crash. (Toy, 8/3)

The New York Times:
Short Answers To Hard Questions About The Opioid Crisis
This week, President Trump’s commission on combating the opioid crisis, led by Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, recommended that the president declare a national emergency. The problem has become significantly worse recently, so you might feel that you could use a little catching up. Here are 11 things you need to know. (Katz, 8/3)

The Baltimore Sun:
ACA Repeal At Odds With Trump Response To Opioid Crisis, Former Drug Czar Says
The former White House drug czar questions the Trump administration’s commitment to dealing with the nation’s deadly opioid crisis while President Donald J. Trump continues to call for repeal of the Affordable Care Act. The 2010 law defined addictions treatment as an “essential benefit” that must be covered through insurance policies sold in ACA marketplaces and through the expansion of Medicaid. (Rodricks, 8/3)

The Associated Press:
Homeless And On Heroin, But Turned Away From Treatment
Nearly two decades of using heroin and a year of living on the streets of Philadelphia had led Steven Kemp to a simple conclusion: It was time to get sober. But when he staggered into a detox facility on a recent Friday night, his head brimming with the thought that suicide would end the pain, he was told he couldn't be admitted because he didn't have a photo ID. (Izaguirre, 8/4)

The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Heroin Trade Rooted In Mexico’s ‘Corridor Of Death’
A lethal combination of corruption and criminal gangs fighting for control of a booming heroin trade has turned one two-lane road in Mexico’s Guerrero state into what many call “the corridor of death. ”The road links Chilpancingo, the Pacific Coast state’s capital, to heroin-producing mountains nearby, where rival gangs are vying for a bigger share of the lucrative heroin market in the U.S. Nearly 1,200 people were killed in the state this year through June after 2,200 died last year. Officials say nearly all were linked to organized crime. (Althaus, 8/4)

NPR:
Longtime Heroin Addict Fights For Recovery
Two summers ago, we met a woman who went by the name Teacup. "I'm an active heroin user," she told us. "Thirty-three years as a matter of fact." We were in West Baltimore, reporting on a citywide effort to stop a growing opioid crisis. On a street corner known for its open-air drug market, health workers trained anyone passing by on how to use naloxone, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose. They were trying to get naloxone kits into as many hands as possible. (Cornish and Hsu, 8/3)

The Washington Post:
Whoops: Trump Made A Few Mistakes By Calling New Hampshire A ‘Drug-Infested Den’
It sounds obvious, but apparently not obvious enough to President Trump: Don't insult an entire state. Especially one that's critical to you and your party's future election hopes. But just six days after getting inaugurated, Trump went there. “I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den,” Trump told Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in a phone call between the two world leaders. The call was private, but The Post's Greg Miller obtained the transcript — plus an equally eyebrow-raising one of a call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. (Phillips, 8/3)

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